Doctors said Joshua Titcombe would have had a 90 per cent chance of survival
had he be given simple drugs but failures at a scandal-hit hospital meant he
died at just nine days old.

Midwives at Furness General Hospital, in Barrow, then attempted to cover up mistakes and colluded with each other, the coroner in the case said.

Joshua was killed by a lung infection that could have been easily treated with antibiotics but concerns from his father James were 'waved away' by staff, it was heard.

Joshua died in October 2008 and is understood to be one of a number of baby deaths at the hospital that is the subject of a police investigation.

His death is also one that sparked a series of inquiries and inspections into the wider running of University Hospitals Morecombe Bay Foundation Trust.

Coroner Ian Smith said ‘incriminating’ medical notes may have been deliberately destroyed and there was a ‘very worrying mark of suspicion’ over why an observation chart went missing, he said during the inquest.